Free Breaking Free by Cara Dee Page B

gaze betrayed him and flicked to her pouty lips, and then he forced himself to move.
    Fucking Christ, this had to stop.

Chapter 8
    "Holy shit," Sophie whispered to herself the next morning.
    She'd just woken up by the sun filtering through the window, and she couldn’t stop thinking about last night.
    Rolling over, she pressed her face into the pillow and squealed. These days, Sophie was a bundle of confusion and doubts, but last night… She didn’t care about what her friends would think; last night had been epic .
    From the delicious milk shake and rolling around in wet paint to learning new things about Tennyson and sort of becoming friends with him.
    Sophie found it amazing that Tennyson and his brother rescued dogs from horrible conditions, and it made her want to know more, more, and more. After work today, she'd have to sit down and finally Google the man.
    And God , was he hot or what?
    She'd have to be careful with that realization, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy this showmance as long as it lasted. Even though it was unlikely she'd get to see him in only underwear again.
    She could always make use of the memory, though. Showerhead, here I come . He was like nothing she'd ever been drawn to before, which had been ripped bad boys and surfer dudes decked out in the latest fashions. Tennyson was so solid, had broad shoulders, some dark hair on his chest, and muscular thighs.
    Lastly, the night before had been fun .
    "Rise and shine, Sophie!" Daniel's voice boomed out in the trailer, startling her. "Are you decent?" He knocked on the door to her little bedroom.
    She managed a reply as she sat up in her bed and pulled a tank top on. "Yeah—come in."
    Daniel entered, carrying a stack of papers and a bag from a local deli. "Hey, Miss Artypants. You're the talk of Tinseltown today." Sitting down on the edge of her bed, he spread out printouts from all kinds of gossip sites and online magazines. "You're even featured on the front page of Variety's website."
    A month ago, Sophie would've been thrilled to hear that. There were some sites and rags that always gossiped about her, but Variety was a step up from those. They covered real stories, too. They had people working there who were actual journalists. With college degrees and everything.
    As it was, this piece of news sunk in with a hint of bitterness. To her, last night hadn't been fake. It had been more real than anything she'd done in a long time.
    "One fruit cup—no bananas, extra blueberries, no granola." Daniel held out the plastic cup for her, and she accepted it before he dug into the bag again. "Aaand one green tea." He set it on the nightstand.
    "Thank you," she said cheekily. Another piece of advice from Daniel had been "Be generous with saying please and thank you," and she was doing well. "There are no comments included here, right?" If there were, she wouldn’t be able to read any of it.
    Something softened in Daniel's gaze. "No, darling. No more comments."
    "Cool." Sophie dug out her birth control pills from her nightstand and chased one down with her tea. Then she scanned some of the gossip and chewed on a blueberry.
    "It looks like the romance between Tennyson Wright and Sophie Pierce is real, after all!" Sophie suppressed a sigh and read on. "The two showed up together at an art café to represent Vancouver when the charity project Safe, Wild, and Sound came to town. Sources say the director and the party girl were awfully chummy, and the photos don’t disagree this time!"
    She picked up the printout and looked at the photos of her and Tennyson. Unlike the shots from their first dinner where they looked angry—not counting the few where Tennyson fed Sophie—these were completely different. They were smiling, for one. And their interaction wasn’t forced.
    Glancing at another printout, Sophie read on when she saw it focused on Tennyson.
    "…so could Sophie be blowing some life into the reclusive Tennyson? We're all familiar with his